Katarzyna NINa Górnisiewicz | Detailed or mini-review submissions: song, EP/album | Suggest an artist

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Cerakai - Against It (song review) |self-released, Cerakai, 2015|

Cerakai is a UK based producer and musician with over 10 years of experience in the field. He's been measuring his song writing and compositional skills against various music genres to find the best match for further musical development. Now he presents a brand new punk-rock track, making a solid departure from his previous hip-hop and electronic compositions released on the Within Your Realm solo EP.

"Against It" blooms from the very beginning with open dynamics provided by accented drums and high-pitched guitars, followed then by the bass and straightforward, shouted vocals. The mood and performance are as spontaneous as the punk attitude requires. The vocals have a taste of a 'young & rebellious' yet sound 'metallic', probably thanks to a mic filter. The arrangements are melodic but also include a mix of metal and hardcore sounds. The graded, vibrating guitar riffs and filling drum beats found in the third part of the composition make for a neat change from the simplistic punk rock songs which you may have heard before. The rhythm changes help the composition remain interesting by shifting the listeners' attention.

The song writing as well as the rhythmic, smart and well rhymed lyrics sound great. Consider this: "I was born in the ocean and dragged from the sea, I got goldfish lungs and I can't breathe (…) There's a bunch of vultures cycling me, I gotta find my way back to the sea". As you may suspect, the theme of "Against It" calls out for resisting things you are forced to do against your needs or will and the overall world-wide bigotry supported by the lack of human empathy. The song is quite memorable and could easily engage the audience to sing along with the band's leader when performed live. It may happen soon, as Cerakai is planning a national UK tour to promote the album.

On a final note, a few things you should know. Firstly, the reviewed track is a slightly different version to the final one appearing on the upcoming album, which you'll be able to buy from on-line music distributors in the last quarter of 2015. Secondly, Cerakai doesn't have a solid line-up yet as they've just formed mid-2015 - various guest musicians were invited for the album’s recording while Ben, the group's founder, sings and plays the guitar on each of the twelve songs. Finally, the mastering and production sound as if done a bit intuitively in this version, so an overall cleanup may be needed before the final release, since the current mixdown gives the impression of a live event rather than a studio version. Undoubtedly, the song's quality will be improved for the final release.

Overall, if you like bands that perform for the joy of playing and bringing pure British Rock energy at the speed of 145bpm, then Cerakai's sounds may be ideal for you.

(Katarzyna 'NINa' Górnisiewicz, Fabryka Music Magazine, August 1st, 2015. Proofreading: Mike 'Vesper' Dziewoński)

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